Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/46

 any place of fresh water there. I am afraid that perhaps the tanks are the only place for fresh water. The heat of the sun was excessive. I was quite wet with perspiration. This was because we were not far from the Red Sea. What astonished me more was that I saw not a single tree or a green plant. Men rode on mules or asses. We could hire mules if we liked. The camp is situated on the hill. I heard from the boatman, when we returned, that the boys of whom I wrote above are sometimes injured. The legs of some and arms of others are cut off by sea animals. But still the boys, being very poor, sat each in their small boats in which we dare not sit. Each of us had to pay one rupee for the carriage fare.

The anchor was weighed at 12 a.m. and we left Aden. But from this day we always saw some land. In the evening we entered the Red Sea. We began to feel the heat. But I don't think it was so scorching, as is described by some in Bombay. Indeed it was unbearable in the cabins. You cannot expose yourself to the sun. You will not like to stay even for a few minutes in your cabin. But if you are on the deck you are sure to receive pleasant gales of fresh air. At least I did so. Almost all the passengers slept on the deck and so did I. The heat of the new morning sun, too, you cannot bear. You are always safe when you are on the deck. This heat we generally get for three days.

Then we entered the Suez on the fourth night. We could see the lamps in the Suez from a great distance. The Red Sea was sometimes broad and sometimes quite narrow. So narrow that we can see the land on both the sides. Before entering the Suez Canal we passed the Hellsgate. Hellsgate is a strip of water very narrow, bound on both the sides by hills. It is so called because many ships are wrecked at that place. We saw the wreck of a ship in the Red Sea. We stayed at Suez for about half an hour. Now it was said that we shall receive cold. Some said that you will require liquor after leaving Aden. But it was false. Now I had begun to talk a little with the fellow-passengers. They said, after leaving Aden you will require meat: but it was not so. For the first time in my life I saw the electric light in the front of our ship. It appeared like moonlight. The front part of the ship appeared very beautiful. I think it must appear more beautiful to a man seeing it, placed on some other place, just as we cannot enjoy the beauty of our person as others, i.e., we cannot see it to advantage.

The construction of the Suez Canal I am not able to understand. It is indeed marvellous. I cannot think of the genius of a man who invented it. I don't know how he would have done it. It is quite right to say that he has